THE DRUID'S CHALLENGE 136km ultra Marathon

The increase of domestic abuse (DA) and violence against women deeply disturbed me during this Covid period. So when I learned of a local charity, “Reduce the Risk”, that integrates its approach to fuse the local services, I decided to fundraise for it.

Their critical services include Domestic Abuse Champion Training, Online training as well as its DA Champion Network.

Even before Covid, Oxfordshire faced a disturbing reality.

In 2018-19 there were 174 referrals to Oxfordshire’s IDVA services, providing support to victims at high risk of serious harm and/or homicide.

In 2018-19 there were 11,970 domestic abuse incidents reported to police in Oxfordshire. That’s an average 1 report every 45 minutes.

There were 493 referrals via the Oxfordshire domestic abuse helpline in the first 3 months of 2019.

In 2018-19 68% of referrals to Oxfordshire’s IDVA service had children in the household; a total of 229 children were indirectly supported by Oxfordshire IDVA service.

Thames Valley is one of the top five locations of callers to the Karma Nirvana “honour-based” abuse helpline. Calls from Banbury and Oxford City account for over a third of calls from the region. Victims of so-called “honour-based” abuse are 7 times as likely to have multiple perpetrators (SafeLives Honour Based Violence & Forced Marriage Spotlight.

Nationally, on average, older victims experience abuse for twice as long before seeking help as those under 61, and nearly half have a disability. Yet older clients are hugely underrepresented among domestic abuse services (SafeLives Older People Spotlight)

Since the Home Office introduced Domestic Homicide Review (DHRs) in 2011, Oxfordshire has commenced 11 DHRs involving 14 victims and 24 children (under 18) who lost at least one parent to domestic abuse.

In 2016 DHR guidance was updated to include suicides where abuse was a factor. Within 2 Oxfordshire had 3 DHRs involving suicide.

I also have three personal reasons I would like to share:

1. As a Canadian, I was deeply disturbed by the Ecole Polytechnique 1989 Massacre (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre)

Decades ago, I was part of a Committee on the status and safety of women at my Alma Matter (Laurentian University in northern Canada). As the Editor in Chief of the University’s newspaper, and made sure women’s safety was front and centre of the editorial policy and content.

2. As a serial ex-pat with three citizenship, I’m familiar with how immigrants’ frustrations often result in domestic abuse. The promise of a new land disappointments spills into domestic abuse.

3. As a father of 2 daughters (10 and 14), I want them to be aware of the risks and resources so they will not be victims.